U.S. patent application number 14/103437 was filed with the patent office on 2014-06-19 for loading a re-directed web resource on a web browser of a client device in a communications system.
This patent application is currently assigned to QUALCOMM Incorporated. The applicant listed for this patent is QUALCOMM Incorporated. Invention is credited to Gabriel BERELEJIS, Joshua HERSHBERG, Eitan MIZROTSKY.
Application Number | 20140172946 14/103437 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 50932236 |
Filed Date | 2014-06-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140172946 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
HERSHBERG; Joshua ; et
al. |
June 19, 2014 |
LOADING A RE-DIRECTED WEB RESOURCE ON A WEB BROWSER OF A CLIENT
DEVICE IN A COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM
Abstract
In an embodiment, a client device transmits a request for an
initial web resource to a proxy server. The proxy server requests
the initial web resource on behalf of the client device in response
to the client device's request. The proxy server then executes a
web resource redirection procedure (which involves one or more
redirects) that is independent of interaction with the client
device and results in the proxy server obtaining web resource
content. The proxy server delivers the web resource content to a
proxy client application on the client device along with
instructions for simulating, on the client device, the web resource
redirection procedure between the proxy client application and a
mobile web browser on the client device. The proxy client
application on the client device then simulates the web resource
redirection procedure that occurred at the proxy server as
instructed.
Inventors: |
HERSHBERG; Joshua; (Bet
Shemesh, IL) ; BERELEJIS; Gabriel; (Mevaseret Zion,
IL) ; MIZROTSKY; Eitan; (Jerusalem, IL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
QUALCOMM Incorporated |
San Diego |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
QUALCOMM Incorporated
San Diego
CA
|
Family ID: |
50932236 |
Appl. No.: |
14/103437 |
Filed: |
December 11, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61736981 |
Dec 13, 2012 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
709/202 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/2871 20130101;
H04L 67/2814 20130101; H04L 67/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/202 |
International
Class: |
H04L 29/08 20060101
H04L029/08 |
Claims
1. A method of operating a proxy server, comprising: receiving a
request for an initial web resource from a client device;
requesting the initial web resource on behalf of the client device
in response to the client device's request; executing a web
resource redirection procedure at the proxy server that is
independent of interaction with the client device and includes (i)
receiving one or more redirect messages that redirect from the
initial web resource to an alternate web resource, (ii) requesting
the alternate web resource from a server based on the one or more
redirect messages, and (iii) receiving web resource content from
the server that is associated with the alternate web resource; and
delivering the web resource content to a proxy client application
on the client device along with instructions for simulating, on the
client device, the web resource redirection procedure between the
proxy client application and a mobile web browser on the client
device.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial web resource is a web
page, or wherein the initial web resource is a set of one or more
network addressable elements or objects.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more redirect messages
includes a single redirect message that redirects directly from the
initial web resource to the alternate web resource.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more redirect messages
include a plurality of redirect messages that function to
cumulatively redirect from the initial web resource to the
alternate web resource.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining a cookie
from the server for the alternate web resource in response to the
proxy server's request for the alternate web resource; and
generating a wrapped cookie based on the obtained cookie, wherein
the instructions for simulating the web resource redirection
procedure are configured to instruct the proxy client application
to supply the mobile web browser with the wrapped cookie as a given
cookie for the initial web resource.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a
supplemental request for the initial web resource from the client
device, wherein the supplemental request includes the wrapped
cookie; unwrapping the wrapped cookie to produce an unwrapped
cookie that corresponds to the obtained cookie for the alternate
web resource; requesting the initial web resource on behalf of the
client device in response to the client device's supplemental
request; executing a supplemental web resource redirection
procedure at the proxy server that is independent of interaction
with the client device and includes (i) receiving one or more
supplemental redirect messages that redirect from the initial web
resource to the alternate web resource, (ii) requesting the
alternate web resource from the server based on the one or more
supplemental redirect messages, wherein the proxy server's request
for the alternate web resource is configured to include the
unwrapped cookie, and (iii) receiving supplemental web resource
content from the server that is associated with the alternate web
resource; and delivering the supplemental web resource content
associated with the alternate web resource to the proxy client
application on the client device along with supplemental
instructions for simulating, on the client device, the supplemental
web resource redirection procedure between the proxy client
application and the mobile web browser.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the delivering delivers the
instructions in association with a wrapped cookie to be used as a
given cookie for the initial web resource during the simulated web
resource redirection procedure on the client device.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: receiving a
supplemental request for the initial web resource from the client
device, wherein the supplemental request includes the wrapped
cookie; and unwrapping the wrapped cookie to produce a redirect
cookie that corresponds to a given cookie that was received by the
proxy server for the alternate web resource during the web resource
redirection procedure.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: supplying the
redirect cookie to the server for requesting the alternate web
resource in conjunction with a supplemental web resource
redirection procedure.
10. A method of operating a client device configured to execute a
proxy client application, comprising: transmitting a request for an
initial web resource to a proxy server; receiving, from the proxy
server in response to the transmitted request, data containing (i)
web resource content associated with an alternate web resource that
is different than the initial web resource, and (ii) instructions
for simulating a web resource redirection procedure that occurred
at the proxy server; and simulating the web resource redirection
procedure that occurred at the proxy server in response to the
instructions by (i) sending one or more redirect messages to a
mobile web browser on the client device that redirect the mobile
web browser from the initial web resource to the alternate web
resource, (ii) receiving a request for the alternate web resource
from the mobile web browser in response to the one or more redirect
messages, and (iii) delivering, in response to the received request
from the mobile web browser, the web resource content associated
with the alternate web resource that was received by the proxy
client application from the proxy server in response to the
transmitted request.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the initial web resource is a
web page, or wherein the initial web resource is a set of one or
more network addressable elements or objects.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more redirect
messages includes a single redirect message that redirects directly
from the initial web resource to the alternate web resource.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more redirect
messages include a plurality of redirect messages that function to
cumulatively redirect from the initial web resource to the
alternate web resource.
14. The method of claim 10, wherein the data includes a wrapped
cookie to be used as a given cookie for the initial web resource
during the simulated web resource redirection procedure on the
client device.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the wrapped cookie is provided
to the mobile web browser during the simulated web resource
redirection procedure in conjunction with the one or more redirect
messages.
16. The method of claim 14, further comprising: transmitting a
supplemental request for the initial web resource to the proxy
server, wherein the transmitted supplemental request includes the
wrapped cookie.
17. The method of claim 14, wherein the wrapped cookie is
configured to permit reconstruction, by the proxy server, of a
redirect cookie that was received at the proxy server during the
web resource redirection procedure that occurred at the proxy
server.
18. A proxy server, comprising: logic configured to receive a
request for an initial web resource from a client device; logic
configured to request the initial web resource on behalf of the
client device in response to the client device's request; logic
configured to execute a web resource redirection procedure at the
proxy server that is independent of interaction with the client
device and includes (i) receiving one or more redirect messages
that redirect from the initial web resource to an alternate web
resource, (ii) requesting the alternate web resource from a server
based on the one or more redirect messages, and (iii) receiving web
resource content from the server that is associated with the
alternate web resource; and logic configured to deliver the web
resource content to a proxy client application on the client device
along with instructions for simulating, on the client device, the
web resource redirection procedure between the proxy client
application and a mobile web browser on the client device.
19. The proxy server of claim 18, wherein the initial web resource
is a web page, or wherein the initial web resource is a set of one
or more network addressable elements or objects.
20. The proxy server of claim 18, wherein the one or more redirect
messages includes a single redirect message that redirects directly
from the initial web resource to the alternate web resource.
21. The proxy server of claim 18, wherein the one or more redirect
messages include a plurality of redirect messages that function to
cumulatively redirect from the initial web resource to the
alternate web resource.
22. The proxy server of claim 18, further comprising: logic
configured to obtain a cookie from the server for the alternate web
resource in response to the proxy server's request for the
alternate web resource; and logic configured to generate a wrapped
cookie based on the obtained cookie, wherein the instructions for
simulating the web resource redirection procedure are configured to
instruct the proxy client application to supply the mobile web
browser with the wrapped cookie as a given cookie for the initial
web resource.
23. The proxy server of claim 18, further comprising: logic
configured to receive a supplemental request for the initial web
resource from the client device, wherein the supplemental request
includes the wrapped cookie; logic configured to unwrap the wrapped
cookie to produce an unwrapped cookie that corresponds to the
obtained cookie for the alternate web resource; logic configured to
request the initial web resource on behalf of the client device in
response to the client device's supplemental request; logic
configured to execute a supplemental web resource redirection
procedure at the proxy server that is independent of interaction
with the client device and includes (i) receiving one or more
supplemental redirect messages that redirect from the initial web
resource to the alternate web resource, (ii) requesting the
alternate web resource from the server based on the one or more
supplemental redirect messages, wherein the proxy server's request
for the alternate web resource is configured to include the
unwrapped cookie, and (iii) receiving supplemental web resource
content from the server that is associated with the alternate web
resource; and logic configured to deliver the supplemental web
resource content associated with the alternate web resource to the
proxy client application on the client device along with
supplemental instructions for simulating, on the client device, the
supplemental web resource redirection procedure between the proxy
client application and the mobile web browser.
24. The proxy server of claim 18, wherein the logic configured to
deliver delivers the instructions in association with a wrapped
cookie to be used as a given cookie for the initial web resource
during the simulated web resource redirection procedure on the
client device.
25. The proxy server of claim 24, further comprising: logic
configured to receive a supplemental request for the initial web
resource from the client device, wherein the supplemental request
includes the wrapped cookie; and logic configured to unwrap the
wrapped cookie to produce a redirect cookie that corresponds to a
given cookie that was received by the proxy server for the
alternate web resource during the web resource redirection
procedure.
26. The proxy server of claim 25, further comprising: logic
configured to supply the redirect cookie to the server for
requesting the alternate web resource in conjunction with a
supplemental web resource redirection procedure.
27. A client device configured to execute a proxy client
application, comprising: logic configured to transmit a request for
an initial web resource to a proxy server; logic configured to
receive, from the proxy server in response to the transmitted
request, data containing (i) web resource content associated with
an alternate web resource that is different than the initial web
resource, and (ii) instructions for simulating a web resource
redirection procedure that occurred at the proxy server; and logic
configured to simulate the web resource redirection procedure that
occurred at the proxy server in response to the instructions by (i)
sending one or more redirect messages to a mobile web browser on
the client device that redirect the mobile web browser from the
initial web resource to the alternate web resource, (ii) receiving
a request for the alternate web resource from the mobile web
browser in response to the one or more redirect messages, and (iii)
delivering, in response to the received request from the mobile web
browser, the web resource content associated with the alternate web
resource that was received by the proxy client application from the
proxy server in response to the transmitted request.
28. The client device of claim 27, wherein the initial web resource
is a web page, or wherein the initial web resource is a set of one
or more network addressable elements or objects.
29. The client device of claim 27, wherein the one or more redirect
messages includes a single redirect message that redirects directly
from the initial web resource to the alternate web resource.
30. The client device of claim 27, wherein the one or more redirect
messages include a plurality of redirect messages that function to
cumulatively redirect from the initial web resource to the
alternate web resource.
31. The client device of claim 27, wherein the data includes a
wrapped cookie to be used as a given cookie for the initial web
resource during the simulated web resource redirection procedure on
the client device.
32. The client device of claim 31, wherein the wrapped cookie is
provided to the mobile web browser during the simulated web
resource redirection procedure in conjunction with the one or more
redirect messages.
33. The client device of claim 31, further comprising: logic
configured to transmit a supplemental request for the initial web
resource to the proxy server, wherein the transmitted supplemental
request includes the wrapped cookie.
34. The client device of claim 31, wherein the wrapped cookie is
configured to permit reconstruction, by the proxy server, of a
redirect cookie that was received at the proxy server during the
web resource redirection procedure that occurred at the proxy
server.
35. A proxy server, comprising: means for receiving a request for
an initial web resource from a client device; means for requesting
the initial web resource on behalf of the client device in response
to the client device's request; means for executing a web resource
redirection procedure at the proxy server that is independent of
interaction with the client device and includes (i) receiving one
or more redirect messages that redirect from the initial web
resource to an alternate web resource, (ii) requesting the
alternate web resource from a server based on the one or more
redirect messages, and (iii) receiving web resource content from
the server that is associated with the alternate web resource; and
delivering the web resource content to a proxy client application
on the client device along with instructions for simulating, on the
client device, the web resource redirection procedure between the
proxy client application and a mobile web browser on the client
device.
36. A client device configured to execute a proxy client
application, comprising: means for transmitting a request for an
initial web resource to a proxy server; means for receiving, from
the proxy server in response to the transmitted request, data
containing (i) web resource content associated with an alternate
web resource that is different than the initial web resource, and
(ii) instructions for simulating a web resource redirection
procedure that occurred at the proxy server; and means for
simulating the web resource redirection procedure that occurred at
the proxy server in response to the instructions by (i) sending one
or more redirect messages to a mobile web browser on the client
device that redirect the mobile web browser from the initial web
resource to the alternate web resource, (ii) receiving a request
for the alternate web resource from the mobile web browser in
response to the one or more redirect messages, and (iii)
delivering, in response to the received request from the mobile web
browser, the web resource content associated with the alternate web
resource that was received by the proxy client application from the
proxy server in response to the transmitted request.
37. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing
instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a proxy
server, cause the proxy server to perform operations, the
instructions comprising: at least one instruction to cause the
proxy server to receive a request for an initial web resource from
a client device; at least one instruction to cause the proxy server
to request the initial web resource on behalf of the client device
in response to the client device's request; at least one
instruction to cause the proxy server to execute a web resource
redirection procedure at the proxy server that is independent of
interaction with the client device and includes (i) receiving one
or more redirect messages that redirect from the initial web
resource to an alternate web resource, (ii) requesting the
alternate web resource from a server based on the one or more
redirect messages, and (iii) receiving web resource content from
the server that is associated with the alternate web resource; and
at least one instruction to cause the proxy server to deliver the
web resource content to a proxy client application on the client
device along with instructions for simulating, on the client
device, the web resource redirection procedure between the proxy
client application and a mobile web browser on the client
device.
38. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing
instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a client
device configured to execute a proxy client application, cause the
client device to perform operations, the instructions comprising:
at least one instruction to cause the client device to transmit a
request for an initial web resource to a proxy server; at least one
instruction to cause the client device to receive, from the proxy
server in response to the transmitted request, data containing (i)
web resource content associated with an alternate web resource that
is different than the initial web resource, and (ii) instructions
for simulating a web resource redirection procedure that occurred
at the proxy server; and at least one instruction to cause the
client device to simulate the web resource redirection procedure
that occurred at the proxy server in response to the instructions
by (i) sending one or more redirect messages to a mobile web
browser on the client device that redirect the mobile web browser
from the initial web resource to the alternate web resource, (ii)
receiving a request for the alternate web resource from the mobile
web browser in response to the one or more redirect messages, and
(iii) delivering, in response to the received request from the
mobile web browser, the web resource content associated with the
alternate web resource that was received by the proxy client
application from the proxy server in response to the transmitted
request.
Description
CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119
[0001] The present application for patent claims priority to
Provisional Application No. 61/736,981, entitled "LOADING A
RE-DIRECTED WEB PAGE ON A WEB BROWSER OF A CLIENT DEVICE IN A
COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM", filed Dec. 13, 2012, by the same inventors
as the subject application, assigned to the assignee hereof and
hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its
entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] Embodiments of the invention relate to loading a re-directed
web resource on a web browser of a client device in a
communications system.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Wireless communication systems have developed through
various generations, including a first-generation analog wireless
phone service (1G), a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone
service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks) and a
third-generation (3G) high speed data, Internet-capable wireless
service. There are presently many different types of wireless
communication systems in use, including Cellular and Personal
Communications Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular
systems include the cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System
(AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division
Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA),
Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), the Global System for Mobile
access (GSM) variation of TDMA, and newer hybrid digital
communication systems using both TDMA and CDMA technologies.
[0006] It is typical for client devices (e.g., mobile devices such
as cell phones) that use the above-noted communication systems or
other types of access networks (e.g., WiFi, etc.) to execute web
browsing applications that load web pages from one or more web
servers via the Internet. An initial loading of a web page will
typically require processing at a given client device as well as
the web server providing the web page before the web page can be
loaded on the given client device (e.g., DNS resolution, web-page
redirection, etc.). In the case of web-page redirection, the given
client device will typically request an initial web page from the
web server, receive a re-direct command from the web-server, and
then subsequently request another web page based on the re-direct
command. This web page redirection procedure delays the loading of
the web page, and also consumes additional resources because two
separate requests are issued for the web page (i.e., the initial
request and then the re-direct request).
SUMMARY
[0007] In an embodiment, a client device transmits a request for an
initial web resource to a proxy server. The proxy server requests
the initial web resource on behalf of the client device in response
to the client device's request. The proxy server then executes a
web resource redirection procedure (which involves one or more
redirects) that is independent of interaction with the client
device and results in the proxy server obtaining web resource
content. The proxy server delivers the web resource content to a
proxy client application on the client device along with
instructions for simulating, on the client device, the web resource
redirection procedure between the proxy client application and a
mobile web browser on the client device. The proxy client
application on the client device then simulates the web resource
redirection procedure that occurred at the proxy server as
instructed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] A more complete appreciation of embodiments of the invention
and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily
obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the
following detailed description when considered in connection with
the accompanying drawings which are presented solely for
illustration and not limitation of the invention, and in which:
[0009] FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level system architecture of a
wireless communications system in accordance with an embodiment of
the invention.
[0010] FIG. 2A illustrates a client-server architecture in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0011] FIG. 2B illustrates a client-server architecture in
accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.
[0012] FIG. 3 illustrates examples of user equipments (UEs) in
accordance with embodiments of the invention.
[0013] FIG. 4A illustrates a communication device that includes
logic configured to perform functionality in accordance with an
embodiment of the invention.
[0014] FIG. 4B illustrates an exemplary server according to various
aspects of the disclosure.
[0015] FIG. 5 illustrates a conventional process of loading a web
page via a mobile web browser on a client device.
[0016] FIG. 6 illustrates a conventional process of loading a web
page via the mobile browser on the client device where an HTTP
proxy server returns a redirect web page to the mobile device
instead of a requested web page.
[0017] FIG. 7A illustrates a proxy redirect procedure for a web
page in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0018] FIG. 7B illustrates a proxy redirect procedure for a web
resource in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0019] FIG. 8 illustrates a continuation of the process of FIG. 5
during a process of loading the web page for a second time.
[0020] FIG. 9A illustrates a continuation of the process of FIG. 7A
in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0021] FIG. 9B illustrates a continuation of the process of FIG. 7B
in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0022] FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate a modified implementation of the
processes of FIGS. 7A and 9A, respectively, that permit a proxy
server to acquire a cookie for an alternate or redirect web page
during a redirect procedure for a second (or later) loading of the
alternate web page in accordance with an embodiment of the
invention.
[0023] FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate a modified implementation of the
processes of FIGS. 7B and 9B, respectively, that permit a proxy
server to acquire a cookie for an alternate or redirect web
resource during a redirect procedure for a second (or later)
loading of the alternate web resource in accordance with an
embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0024] Aspects of the invention are disclosed in the following
description and related drawings directed to specific embodiments
of the invention. Alternate embodiments may be devised without
departing from the scope of the invention. Additionally, well-known
elements of the invention will not be described in detail or will
be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the
invention.
[0025] The words "exemplary" and/or "example" are used herein to
mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any
embodiment described herein as "exemplary" and/or "example" is not
necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other
embodiments. Likewise, the term "embodiments of the invention" does
not require that all embodiments of the invention include the
discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.
[0026] Further, many embodiments are described in terms of
sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a
computing device. It will be recognized that various actions
described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g.,
application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program
instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a
combination of both. Additionally, these sequence of actions
described herein can be considered to be embodied entirely within
any form of computer readable storage medium having stored therein
a corresponding set of computer instructions that upon execution
would cause an associated processor to perform the functionality
described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the invention may be
embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been
contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In addition, for each of the embodiments described herein, the
corresponding form of any such embodiments may be described herein
as, for example, "logic configured to" perform the described
action.
[0027] A client device, referred to herein as a user equipment
(UE), may be mobile or stationary, and may communicate with a radio
access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be referred
to interchangeably as an "access terminal" or "AT", a "wireless
device", a "subscriber device", a "subscriber terminal", a
"subscriber station", a "user terminal" or UT, a "mobile terminal",
a "mobile station" and variations thereof. Generally, UEs can
communicate with a core network via the RAN, and through the core
network the UEs can be connected with external networks such as the
Internet. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core
network and/or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as
over wired access networks, WiFi networks (e.g., based on IEEE
802.11, etc.) and so on. UEs can be embodied by any of a number of
types of devices including but not limited to PC cards, compact
flash devices, external or internal modems, wireless or wireline
phones, and so on. A communication link through which UEs can send
signals to the RAN is called an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse
traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel,
etc.). A communication link through which the RAN can send signals
to UEs is called a downlink or forward link channel (e.g., a paging
channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic
channel, etc.). As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH) can
refer to either an uplink/reverse or downlink/forward traffic
channel.
[0028] FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level system architecture of a
wireless communications system 100 in accordance with an embodiment
of the invention. The wireless communications system 100 contains
UEs 1 . . . N. The UEs 1 . . . N can include cellular telephones,
personal digital assistant (PDAs), pagers, a laptop computer, a
desktop computer, and so on. For example, in FIG. 1, UEs 1 . . . 2
are illustrated as cellular calling phones, UEs 3 . . . 5 are
illustrated as cellular touchscreen phones or smart phones, and UE
N is illustrated as a desktop computer or PC.
[0029] Referring to FIG. 1, UEs 1 . . . N are configured to
communicate with an access network (e.g., the RAN 120, an access
point 125, etc.) over a physical communications interface or layer,
shown in FIG. 1 as air interfaces 104, 106, 108 and/or a direct
wired connection. The air interfaces 104 and 106 can comply with a
given cellular communications protocol (e.g., CDMA, EVDO, eHRPD,
GSM, EDGE, W-CDMA, LTE, etc.), while the air interface 108 can
comply with a wireless IP protocol (e.g., IEEE 802.11). The RAN 120
includes a plurality of access points that serve UEs over air
interfaces, such as the air interfaces 104 and 106. The access
points in the RAN 120 can be referred to as access nodes or ANs,
access points or APs, base stations or BSs, Node Bs, eNode Bs, and
so on. These access points can be terrestrial access points (or
ground stations), or satellite access points. The RAN 120 is
configured to connect to a core network 140 that can perform a
variety of functions, including bridging circuit switched (CS)
calls between UEs served by the RAN 120 and other UEs served by the
RAN 120 or a different RAN altogether, and can also mediate an
exchange of packet-switched (PS) data with external networks such
as Internet 175. The Internet 175 includes a number of routing
agents and processing agents (not shown in FIG. 1 for the sake of
convenience). In FIG. 1, UE N is shown as connecting to the
Internet 175 directly (i.e., separate from the core network 140,
such as over an Ethernet connection of WiFi or 802.11-based
network). The Internet 175 can thereby function to bridge
packet-switched data communications between UE N and UEs 1 . . . N
via the core network 140. Also shown in FIG. 1 is the access point
125 that is separate from the RAN 120. The access point 125 may be
connected to the Internet 175 independent of the core network 140
(e.g., via an optical communication system such as FiOS, a cable
modem, etc.). The air interface 108 may serve UE 4 or UE 5 over a
local wireless connection, such as IEEE 802.11 in an example. UE N
is shown as a desktop computer with a wired connection to the
Internet 175, such as a direct connection to a modem or router,
which can correspond to the access point 125 itself in an example
(e.g., for a WiFi router with both wired and wireless
connectivity).
[0030] Referring to FIG. 1, a server 170 is shown as connected to
the Internet 175, the core network 140, or both. The server 170 can
be implemented as a plurality of structurally separate servers, or
alternately may correspond to a single server. As will be described
below in more detail, the server 170 is configured to support one
or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol
(VoIP) sessions, Push-to-Talk (PTT) sessions, group communication
sessions, social networking services, etc.) for UEs that can
connect to the server 170 via the core network 140 and/or the
Internet 175, and/or to provide content (e.g., web page downloads)
to the UEs.
[0031] FIG. 2A illustrates a client-server architecture in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Referring
to FIG. 2A, a client device 200 (e.g., a UE) includes a plurality
of mobile applications 1 . . . N and a transport layer 205. The
transport layer 205 is configured to convert data from mobile
applications 1 . . . N into packets for transmission to an access
network 220 (e.g., the RAN 120, the AP 125, etc.) and/or to receive
packets from the access network 220 for delivery to higher-layers,
such as one of the mobile applications 1 . . . N. The transport
layer 205 includes a conventional Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP) layer or stack 210. As is known in the
art, data can be forwarded by any of the mobile applications 1 . .
. N to the TCP/IP stack 210 and then converted into data packets
which are queued for transmission to specified target servers
(e.g., a Facebook server, a Netflix server, etc.) by the client
device 200, and incoming data packets at the client device 200 can
be processed at the TCP/IP stack 210 for delivery to higher-layers,
such as one of the mobile applications 1 . . . N. The transport
layer 205 further includes a client application manager application
215, which is referred to hereinafter as a proxy on device (POD)
215. As will be described below in more detail, the POD 215 is
configured to interface with one or more of the mobile applications
1 . . . N including at least a mobile web browsing application. One
of the functions of the POD 215 is to execute specialized re-direct
handling procedures on behalf of the mobile web browsing
application via coordination with an external proxy server 225,
which is referred to hereinafter as a Mobile Optimized Data (MOD)
server 225.
[0032] In FIG. 2A, the POD 215 does not necessarily interact with
each mobile application resident on the client device 200 and/or
with each instance of network access for the mobile applications 1
. . . N. Thereby, FIG. 2A illustrates an example whereby a data
exchanged between the client device 200 and the access network 220
for application 1 is handled by the TCP/IP stack 210, while data
exchanged between the client device and the access network 220
(e.g., transmissions of web page requests, receptions of re-direct
commands for web pages, etc.) for applications 2 . . . N are
handled by the POD 215 instead of the TCP/IP stack 210.
[0033] Further illustrated in FIG. 2A is the access network 220,
which may correspond to the RAN 120, the AP 125, a wired Ethernet
router or modem (not shown), etc. While the structural components
(e.g., Node Bs, etc.) of the access network 220 are not illustrated
in FIG. 2A in detail, the access network 220 is shown as including
the MOD 225. The access network 220 is in turn connected to the
Internet 175, where a variety of servers can be accessed, such as
application servers 170A-170B and web servers 170C-170D. The MOD
225 can be implemented at different network locations of the access
network 220, including but not limited to a serving Node B (or base
station or eNodeB) of the client device 200, an RNC (or BSC), and
so on. As will be explained in greater detail below, the MOD 225 is
responsible for interfacing with the POD 215 on the client device
200 and exchanging data packets with the client device 200 on
behalf of one or more mobile applications executing thereon. The
MOD 220 can also perform operations associated with web page
re-directs on behalf of a mobile web browsing application on the
client device 200, such as responding to a re-direct command from a
target web server without forwarding the re-direct commands back to
the client device 220 that issued the request for the initial web
page (prior to re-direct). From the perspective of both the mobile
web browsing application executing on the client device 200 and the
target web servers that provide the web page content, the
operations of the POD 215 and MOD 225 are transparent, such that
any specialized MOD-POD procedures do not necessarily require
modification to the standard operation of the mobile web browsing
application and/or the target web servers.
[0034] FIG. 2B illustrates a client-server architecture in
accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
2B is similar to FIG. 2A, except that the MOD 225 is positioned
outside of the access network 220, for example, as an Internet
destination reachable via the Internet 175. FIG. 2B is otherwise
similar to FIG. 2A and will not be described further for the sake
of brevity.
[0035] FIG. 3 illustrates examples of UEs (i.e., client devices) in
accordance with embodiments of the invention. Referring to FIG. 3,
UE 300A is illustrated as a calling telephone and UE 300B is
illustrated as a touchscreen device (e.g., a smart phone, a tablet
computer, etc.). As shown in FIG. 3, an external casing of UE 300A
is configured with an antenna 305A, display 310A, at least one
button 315A (e.g., a PTT button, a power button, a volume control
button, etc.) and a keypad 320A among other components, as is known
in the art. Also, an external casing of UE 300B is configured with
a touchscreen display 305B, peripheral buttons 310B, 315B, 320B and
325B (e.g., a power control button, a volume or vibrate control
button, an airplane mode toggle button, etc.), at least one
front-panel button 330B (e.g., a Home button, etc.), among other
components, as is known in the art. While not shown explicitly as
part of UE 300B, the UE 300B can include one or more external
antennas and/or one or more integrated antennas that are built into
the external casing of UE 300B, including but not limited to WiFi
antennas, cellular antennas, satellite position system (SPS)
antennas (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) antennas), and so
on.
[0036] While internal components of UEs such as the UEs 300A and
300B can be embodied with different hardware configurations, a
basic high-level UE configuration for internal hardware components
is shown as platform 302 in FIG. 3. The platform 302 can receive
and execute software applications, data and/or commands transmitted
from the RAN 120 that may ultimately come from the core network
140, the Internet 175 and/or other remote servers and networks
(e.g., application server 170, web URLs, etc.). The platform 302
can also independently execute locally stored applications without
RAN interaction. The platform 302 can include a transceiver 306
operably coupled to an application specific integrated circuit
(ASIC) 308, or other processor, microprocessor, logic circuit, or
other data processing device. The ASIC 308 or other processor
executes the application programming interface (API) 310 layer that
interfaces with any resident programs in the memory 312 of the
wireless device. The memory 312 can be comprised of read-only or
random-access memory (RAM and ROM), EEPROM, flash cards, or any
memory common to computer platforms. The platform 302 also can
include a local database 314 that can store applications not
actively used in memory 312, as well as other data. The local
database 314 is typically a flash memory cell, but can be any
secondary storage device as known in the art, such as magnetic
media, EEPROM, optical media, tape, soft or hard disk, or the
like.
[0037] Accordingly, an embodiment of the invention can include a UE
(e.g., UE 300A, 300B, etc.) including the ability to perform the
functions described herein. As will be appreciated by those skilled
in the art, the various logic elements can be embodied in discrete
elements, software modules executed on a processor or any
combination of software and hardware to achieve the functionality
disclosed herein. For example, ASIC 308, memory 312, API 310 and
local database 314 may all be used cooperatively to load, store and
execute the various functions disclosed herein and thus the logic
to perform these functions may be distributed over various
elements. Alternatively, the functionality could be incorporated
into one discrete component. Therefore, the features of the UEs
300A and 300B in FIG. 3 are to be considered merely illustrative
and the invention is not limited to the illustrated features or
arrangement.
[0038] The wireless communication between the UEs 300A and/or 300B
and the RAN 120 can be based on different technologies, such as
CDMA, W-CDMA, time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency
division multiple access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (OFDM), GSM, or other protocols that may be used in a
wireless communications network or a data communications network.
As discussed in the foregoing and known in the art, voice
transmission and/or data can be transmitted to the UEs from the RAN
using a variety of networks and configurations. Accordingly, the
illustrations provided herein are not intended to limit the
embodiments of the invention and are merely to aid in the
description of aspects of embodiments of the invention.
[0039] FIG. 4A illustrates a communication device 400 that includes
logic configured to perform functionality. The communication device
400 can correspond to any of the above-noted communication devices,
including but not limited to UEs 300A or 300B, any component of the
RAN 120, any component of the core network 140, any components
coupled with the core network 140 and/or the Internet 175 (e.g.,
the server 170), and so on. Thus, communication device 400 can
correspond to any electronic device that is configured to
communicate with (or facilitate communication with) one or more
other entities over the wireless communications system 100 of FIG.
1.
[0040] Referring to FIG. 4A, the communication device 400 includes
logic configured to receive and/or transmit information 405. In an
example, if the communication device 400 corresponds to a wireless
communications device (e.g., UE 300A or 300B, AP 125, a BS, Node B
or eNodeB in the RAN 120, etc.), the logic configured to receive
and/or transmit information 405 can include a wireless
communications interface (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi, 2G, CDMA, W-CDMA,
3G, 4G, LTE, etc.) such as a wireless transceiver and associated
hardware (e.g., an RF antenna, a MODEM, a modulator and/or
demodulator, etc.). In another example, the logic configured to
receive and/or transmit information 405 can correspond to a wired
communications interface (e.g., a serial connection, a USB or
Firewire connection, an Ethernet connection through which the
Internet 175 can be accessed, etc.). Thus, if the communication
device 400 corresponds to some type of network-based server (e.g.,
server 170, etc.), the logic configured to receive and/or transmit
information 405 can correspond to an Ethernet card, in an example,
that connects the network-based server to other communication
entities via an Ethernet protocol. In a further example, the logic
configured to receive and/or transmit information 405 can include
sensory or measurement hardware by which the communication device
400 can monitor its local environment (e.g., an accelerometer, a
temperature sensor, a light sensor, an antenna for monitoring local
RF signals, etc.). The logic configured to receive and/or transmit
information 405 can also include software that, when executed,
permits the associated hardware of the logic configured to receive
and/or transmit information 405 to perform its reception and/or
transmission function(s). However, the logic configured to receive
and/or transmit information 405 does not correspond to software
alone, and the logic configured to receive and/or transmit
information 405 relies at least in part upon hardware to achieve
its functionality.
[0041] Referring to FIG. 4A, the communication device 400 further
includes logic configured to process information 410. In an
example, the logic configured to process information 410 can
include at least a processor. Example implementations of the type
of processing that can be performed by the logic configured to
process information 410 includes but is not limited to performing
determinations, establishing connections, making selections between
different information options, performing evaluations related to
data, interacting with sensors coupled to the communication device
400 to perform measurement operations, converting information from
one format to another (e.g., between different protocols such as
.wmv to .avi, etc.), and so on. For example, the processor included
in the logic configured to process information 410 can correspond
to a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP),
an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other
programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic,
discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed
to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose
processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the
processor may be any conventional processor, controller,
microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be
implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a
combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of
microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a
DSP core, or any other such configuration. The logic configured to
process information 410 can also include software that, when
executed, permits the associated hardware of the logic configured
to process information 410 to perform its processing function(s).
However, the logic configured to process information 410 does not
correspond to software alone, and the logic configured to process
information 410 relies at least in part upon hardware to achieve
its functionality.
[0042] Referring to FIG. 4A, the communication device 400 further
includes logic configured to store information 415. In an example,
the logic configured to store information 415 can include at least
a non-transitory memory and associated hardware (e.g., a memory
controller, etc.). For example, the non-transitory memory included
in the logic configured to store information 415 can correspond to
RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory,
registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form
of storage medium known in the art. The logic configured to store
information 415 can also include software that, when executed,
permits the associated hardware of the logic configured to store
information 415 to perform its storage function(s). However, the
logic configured to store information 415 does not correspond to
software alone, and the logic configured to store information 415
relies at least in part upon hardware to achieve its
functionality.
[0043] Referring to FIG. 4A, the communication device 400 further
optionally includes logic configured to present information 420. In
an example, the logic configured to present information 420 can
include at least an output device and associated hardware. For
example, the output device can include a video output device (e.g.,
a display screen, a port that can carry video information such as
USB, HDMI, etc.), an audio output device (e.g., speakers, a port
that can carry audio information such as a microphone jack, USB,
HDMI, etc.), a vibration device and/or any other device by which
information can be formatted for output or actually outputted by a
user or operator of the communication device 400. For example, if
the communication device 400 corresponds to UE 300A or UE 300B as
shown in FIG. 3, the logic configured to present information 420
can include the display 310A of UE 300A or the touchscreen display
305B of UE 300B. In a further example, the logic configured to
present information 420 can be omitted for certain communication
devices, such as network communication devices that do not have a
local user (e.g., network switches or routers, remote servers such
as the server 170, etc.). The logic configured to present
information 420 can also include software that, when executed,
permits the associated hardware of the logic configured to present
information 420 to perform its presentation function(s). However,
the logic configured to present information 420 does not correspond
to software alone, and the logic configured to present information
420 relies at least in part upon hardware to achieve its
functionality.
[0044] Referring to FIG. 4A, the communication device 400 further
optionally includes logic configured to receive local user input
425. In an example, the logic configured to receive local user
input 425 can include at least a user input device and associated
hardware. For example, the user input device can include buttons, a
touchscreen display, a keyboard, a camera, an audio input device
(e.g., a microphone or a port that can carry audio information such
as a microphone jack, etc.), and/or any other device by which
information can be received from a user or operator of the
communication device 400. For example, if the communication device
400 corresponds to UE 300A or UE 300B as shown in FIG. 3, the logic
configured to receive local user input 425 can include the keypad
320A, any of the buttons 315A or 310B through 325B, the touchscreen
display 305B, etc. In a further example, the logic configured to
receive local user input 425 can be omitted for certain
communication devices, such as network communication devices that
do not have a local user (e.g., network switches or routers, remote
servers such as the server 170, etc.). The logic configured to
receive local user input 425 can also include software that, when
executed, permits the associated hardware of the logic configured
to receive local user input 425 to perform its input reception
function(s). However, the logic configured to receive local user
input 425 does not correspond to software alone, and the logic
configured to receive local user input 425 relies at least in part
upon hardware to achieve its functionality.
[0045] Referring to FIG. 4A, while the configured logics of 405
through 425 are shown as separate or distinct blocks in FIG. 4A, it
will be appreciated that the hardware and/or software by which the
respective configured logic performs its functionality can overlap
in part. For example, any software used to facilitate the
functionality of the configured logics of 405 through 425 can be
stored in the non-transitory memory associated with the logic
configured to store information 415, such that the configured
logics of 405 through 425 each performs their functionality (i.e.,
in this case, software execution) based in part upon the operation
of software stored by the logic configured to store information
415. Likewise, hardware that is directly associated with one of the
configured logics can be borrowed or used by other configured
logics from time to time. For example, the processor of the logic
configured to process information 410 can format data into an
appropriate format before being transmitted by the logic configured
to receive and/or transmit information 405, such that the logic
configured to receive and/or transmit information 405 performs its
functionality (i.e., in this case, transmission of data) based in
part upon the operation of hardware (i.e., the processor)
associated with the logic configured to process information
410.
[0046] The various embodiments may be implemented on any of a
variety of commercially available server devices, such as server
400B illustrated in FIG. 4B. In an example, the server 400B may
correspond to one example configuration of the IoT server 170
described above. In FIG. 4B, the server 400B includes a processor
400B coupled to volatile memory 402B and a large capacity
nonvolatile memory, such as a disk drive 403B. The server 400B may
also include a floppy disc drive, compact disc (CD) or DVD disc
drive 406B coupled to the processor 401B. The server 400B may also
include network access ports 404B coupled to the processor 401B for
establishing data connections with a network 407B, such as a local
area network coupled to other broadcast system computers and
servers or to the Internet. In context with FIG. 4A, it will be
appreciated that the server 400B of FIG. 4B illustrates one example
implementation of the communication device 400, whereby the logic
configured to transmit and/or receive information 405 corresponds
to the network access points 404B used by the server 400B to
communicate with the network 407B, the logic configured to process
information 410 corresponds to the processor 401B, and the logic
configuration to store information 415 corresponds to any
combination of the volatile memory 402B, the disk drive 403B and/or
the disc drive 406B. The optional logic configured to present
information 420 and the optional logic configured to receive local
user input 425 are not shown explicitly in FIG. 4B and may or may
not be included therein. Thus, FIG. 4B helps to demonstrate that
the communication device 400 of FIG. 4A may be implemented as a
server.
[0047] Generally, unless stated otherwise explicitly, the phrase
"logic configured to" as used throughout this disclosure is
intended to invoke an embodiment that is at least partially
implemented with hardware, and is not intended to map to
software-only implementations that are independent of hardware.
Also, it will be appreciated that the configured logic or "logic
configured to" in the various blocks are not limited to specific
logic gates or elements, but generally refer to the ability to
perform the functionality described herein (either via hardware or
a combination of hardware and software). Thus, the configured
logics or "logic configured to" as illustrated in the various
blocks are not necessarily implemented as logic gates or logic
elements despite sharing the word "logic." Other interactions or
cooperation between the logic in the various blocks will become
clear to one of ordinary skill in the art from a review of the
embodiments described below in more detail.
[0048] FIG. 5 illustrates a conventional process of loading a web
page via a mobile web browser on a client device. Referring to FIG.
5, the mobile web browser determines to retrieve a given web page
at 500. For convenience of explanation, FIG. 5 is illustrated such
that an HTTP proxy server is mediating interaction between the
client device and a target server hosting the given web page, and
the given web page is illustrated in FIG. 5 as corresponding to
www.cnn.com (or cnn.com). However, it will be appreciated that
other conventional web page loading procedures can bypass the HTTP
proxy server altogether, and can be directed to loading any other
web page. In FIG. 5, assume that the mobile web browser has no
special knowledge of any re-directs for the given web page at 500
(e.g., re-directs are generally deemed to be temporary and
conventional mobile web browsers will not typically cache re-direct
information for re-use). The mobile web browser transmits a request
for the given web page to a HTTP proxy server, 505, and the HTTP
proxy server forwards the request for the given web page to a
target server associated with the given web page, 510. The target
server responds to the request with a 302 redirect to an alternate
web page, 515, such as a mobile version of the given web page
(e.g., www.edition.cnn.com or edition.cnn). It will be appreciated
that the "302" in the 302 redirect is merely redirect response code
example. Generally, the description below re-uses 302 as the
response code for consistency, but it will be readily understood
that other response codes could also be used for any of the
redirects described herein. In response to the 302 redirect from
the target server, the HTTP proxy server issues a new request to
the alternate web page to the mobile web browser on the client
device, 520. In response to the redirect message, the mobile web
browser transmits a request for the alternate web page to the HTTP
proxy server, 525, and the HTTP proxy server forwards the request
for the alternate web page to the target server associated with the
alternate web page, 530. In FIG. 5, the target server associated
with the given web page and the alternate web page is shown as the
same server, but the respective web pages could alternatively be
hosted by different servers. The target server responds to the
request for the alternate web page with a 200 OK message, the
requested content for the alternate web page, and a cookie for the
alternate web page, 535 (e.g., Cookie[edition.cnn.com], for the web
page www.edition.cnn.com). The HTTP proxy server forwards the 200
OK message, the requested content for the alternate web page, and
the cookie for the alternate web page to the mobile web browser on
the client device, 540, and the mobile web browser loads the
alternate web page using the page content and caches the cookie for
the alternate web page for future attempts for loading the
alternate web page, 545.
[0049] As will be appreciated, it is relatively inefficient for the
redirect message to be pushed back to the mobile web browser on the
client device so that the mobile web browser can initiate another
separate attempt to load the alternate web page. However, problems
can result if the HTTP proxy server simply attempts to respond to
the 302 redirect message itself without involving the mobile web
browser on the client device, as will be described with respect to
FIG. 6.
[0050] Referring to FIG. 6, 600 through 615 correspond to 500
through 515 and will not be described further for the sake of
brevity. At 620, instead of sending a redirect message back to the
mobile web browser on the client device as in 520 of FIG. 5, the
HTTP proxy server instead requests the alternate web page itself.
Accordingly, the target server responds to the HTTP proxy server's
request for the alternate web page with a 200 OK message, the
requested content for the alternate web page, and a cookie for the
alternate web page, 625 (e.g., Cookie[edition.cnn.com], for the web
page www.edition.cnn.com). The HTTP proxy server forwards the 200
OK message, the requested content for the alternate web page, and
the cookie for the alternate web page to the mobile web browser on
the client device, 630.
[0051] However, as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in
the art, many web resources, including HTML pages, require that the
mobile web browser know the exact URL from which the resource was
downloaded. One reason for this is so that the mobile web browser
can accurately download relative URLs of embedded resources. In
FIG. 6, the mobile web browser asked for the given web page at 605
(e.g., www.cnn.com), but the mobile web browser received content
for a different web page at 630 (e.g., www.edition.cnn.com). Thus,
the mobile web browser is fooled into thinking that it is loading
content for www.cnn.com when the mobile web browser is actually
loading content for www.edition.cnn.com. For this reason, while the
alternate web page is being loaded, the mobile web browser may
issue requests for relative URLs of embedded resources at 635, and
the HTTP proxy server forwards the relative resource request to the
target server for the given web page, 640. However, the resource is
relative to the alternate web page (not the given web page), such
that the target server returns a 404 Not Found error message, 645.
For this reason, the mobile web browser will be unable to load the
relative resource on its display of the alternate web page,
650.
[0052] FIG. 7A illustrates a MOD-POD implementation of a proxy (or
MOD) redirect in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
Unlike FIG. 6, the MOD can implement the re-direct on behalf the
client device via coordination with the POD in a manner that will
not result in relative resource loading problems for the alternate
(or re-directed) web page.
[0053] Referring to FIG. 7A, assume that the client device is
implemented as shown in FIG. 2A or 2B with respect to the client
device 200, such that the client device is provisioned with the POD
215, and that the POD 215 is configured to communicated with the
MOD 225. At 700, the mobile web browser determines to retrieve a
given web page at 500. Similar to FIGS. 5-6, for convenience of
explanation, the given web page is illustrated in FIG. 7A as
corresponding to www.cnn.com. At 700 in FIG. 7A, assume that the
given web page has not been requested earlier by the mobile web
browser, or at least not since the mobile web browser's cache has
been cleared. Thus, the mobile web browser has no special knowledge
of any re-directs or cookies for the given web page at 700. The
mobile web browser attempts to transmit a request for the given web
page to an associated target server or HTTP proxy server, 705, but
the POD 215 intercepts the attempted request and transmits the
request to the MOD 225, 710. The MOD 225 forwards the request for
the given web page to the target server associated with the given
web page, 715. At this point, it is possible that the MOD 225 is
re-directed to one or more intervening web pages before arriving at
an alternate web page that provides the actual web page content to
be returned to the mobile web browser (as opposed to yet another
redirect), 718. Alternatively, it is possible that the target
server will redirect the MOD 225 directly to the alternate web page
that provides the web page content (without any intervening
redirects). Accordingly, 718 is shown with a dotted line in FIG. 7A
to convey that the intervening redirect operation is optional
depending on whether any intervening redirects are implemented. If
intervening redirects are used, it will be appreciated that the MOD
225 could potentially be redirected to a different server
altogether from the target server. The target server (or a
different server in the case where an intervening redirect message
is used to redirect the MOD 225 to a different server) responds to
the request from 715 (or to another request from 718 that is
prompted by a previous intervening redirect, if any) with a 302
redirect to the alternate web page, 720, such as a mobile version
of the given web page (e.g., www.edition.cnn.com).
[0054] At 725, instead of sending a redirect message back to the
mobile web browser on the client device as in 520 of FIG. 5, the
MOD 225 instead requests the alternate web page itself.
Accordingly, the target server responds to the MOD's request for
the alternate web page with a 200 OK message, and the requested
content for the alternate web page, 730. Similarly, any intervening
redirect messages (if used at 718) are also not sent back to the
client device and the MOD 225 independently requests any
intervening web page itself as wel.
[0055] At 630 of FIG. 6, the HTTP proxy server simply forwarded the
re-directed content to the mobile web browser as if it was
providing content for the initially requested web page, which
resulted in errors when loading the web page at the mobile web
browser. Accordingly, the MOD 225 forwards the 200 OK message and
the requested content for the alternate web page to the POD 215
along with a set of instructions (or a "Script") for mimicking the
302 redirect procedure for the alternate web page on the client
device, 735. Thus, instead of presenting the redirected content to
the mobile web browser as if it were the initially requested
content, the MOD 225 asks the POD 215 to recreate (or mimic) the
redirect procedure from 720-730 on the client device with the
mobile web browser. An example of the type of script that may be
provided at 735 is as follows:
[0056] HTTP/1.1 200 OK
[0057] Server: nginx/1.2.1
[0058] Date: Sun, 8 Jul. 2012 14:12:53 GMT
[0059] Content-Length: 21442
[0060] Connection: close
[0061] Content-Type: application/MOD-WebScript
[0062] IskNextResponse: http://www.cnn.com/
[0063] HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily
[0064] Server: nginx
[0065] Date: Sun, 8 Jul. 2012 14:12:58 GMT
[0066] Set-Cookie: CG=IL:--:--; path=/
[0067] Cache-Control: private, no-cache
[0068] Vary: *
[0069] Location: http://edition.cnn.com/
[0070] IskNextResponse: http://edition.cnn.com/
[0071] HTTP/1.1 200 OK
[0072] Server: nginx
[0073] Date: Sun, 8 Jul. 2012 14:12:58 GMT
[0074] Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
[0075] IskContenType: text/html; charset=UTF-8
[0076] Connection: keep-alive
[0077] Set-Cookie: CG=IL:--:--; path=/
[0078] Cache-Control: max-age=60, private
[0079] Vary: Accept-Encoding, User-Agent
[0080] X-UA-Profile: desktop
[0081] Content-Length: 20798
[0082] Referring to FIG. 7A, the POD 215 receives the transmission
of 735 and implements the "spoofed" redirect procedure by
(optionally) mimicking the intervening redirect procedure from 718,
738, and also sending a 302 redirect message for the alternate web
page to the mobile web browser, 740, which prompts the mobile web
browser to respond with a request for the alternate web page, 745,
the request for the alternate web page is intercepted by the POD
215 and the POD 215 responds to the request with the 200 OK
message, and the requested content for the alternate web page, 750.
At this point, the mobile web browser loads the web page with the
understanding that it has been redirected to the alternate web
page, 755, such that the loading errors from FIG. 6 do not
occur.
[0083] Another reason that outsourcing the redirect procedure from
the client device itself to a proxy server such as the HTTP proxy
server from FIG. 6 can be difficult to implement relates to cookie
management. Web servers typically provide cookies for a web page to
a new requestor of that web page with the 200 OK message and page
content (e.g., at 535 of FIG. 5, 625 of FIG. 6, 730 of FIG. 7A, and
so on), as shown in FIG. 8. To provide context for FIGS. 8-11, it
should be appreciated that under conventional cookie management
protocols, cookies are scoped to a specific domain that originated
the cookies, and web browsers receiving the cookies send
exclusively to their respective originating servers.
[0084] While FIG. 7A describes a redirect operation for a web page,
it will be appreciated that other types of redirects can also occur
with respect to any type of web resource, and not merely a web
page. As used herein, the term "web resource" is used to refer not
only to web pages, but also any network addressable element or
object (e.g., a data file such as an image file or video file, a
URL that maps to a streaming session, etc.). With this in mind,
FIG. 7B illustrates a proxy redirect procedure for a web resource
in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0085] Generally, the process of FIG. 7B is similar to the process
of FIG. 7A, except that the target web resource to be retrieved
does not necessarily need to be a web page (although this is
certainly possible). A specific example is shown in FIG. 7B whereby
the mobile web browser is attempting to retrieve an image file at
the URL of www.cnn.com/image1.jpeg, whereby the mobile web browser
ultimately receives the image file at the URL of
www.edition.cnn.com/image1.mpeg based on the aforementioned
redirect procedure being simulated locally at the mobile web
browser by the POD 215. Accordingly, except for the distinction
between web pages and web resources discussed above, 700B through
755B of FIG. 7B substantially correspond to 700 through 755 of FIG.
7A, respectively, and as such will not be discussed in further
detail for the sake of brevity.
[0086] FIG. 8 illustrates a continuation of the process of FIG. 5
during a process of loading the given web page for a second time.
FIG. 8 is similar to FIG. 5, except that unlike the request for the
alternate web page 525 and 530 of FIG. 5, the request sent at 825
and 830 includes the cookie for the alternate web page (e.g.,
Cookie[edition.cnn.com]) that was obtained by the mobile web
browser at 540 and cached at 545. By providing the cookie to the
target server at 830, the target server is able to identify the
mobile web browser as a repeat visit to the alternate web site and
can load user-specific settings (e.g., such as the appropriate
language for content, etc.)
[0087] However, in a system where the proxy server handles
re-directs on behalf of the client device, such as in FIG. 6 or
FIG. 7A, the proxy server will be handling the re-direct procedure
and the proxy server does not necessarily know the cookie for the
alternate web page. For example, even though the HTTP proxy server
forwards the 200 OK message and page content to the mobile web
browser at 630 of FIG. 6, the HTTP proxy server does not cache the
associated cookie for the alternate web page itself and thereby
cannot use this cookie the next time that the HTTP proxy server
attempts to load the alternate web page on behalf of the mobile web
browser.
[0088] To explain the potential problems that can arise from this
scenario, FIG. 9A is described below as a continuation of FIG. 7A
under the assumption that FIG. 7A executes without the MOD 225
maintaining a record of any cookies exchanged during the process of
FIG. 7A.
[0089] Referring to FIG. 9A, after 755 of FIG. 7A, assume that the
mobile web browser on the client device has a cookie for the
alternate web page (e.g., Cookie[edition.cnn.com] but not the given
web page (due to the re-direct), 900, and that the MOD 225 did not
maintain a record of any cookies exchanged during the process of
FIG. 7A, 905. With these assumptions, if the mobile web browser
determines to request the given web page again, 910, the mobile
browser attempts to request the given web page at 915 but does not
provide a cookie for the given web page in its request (because it
is not available) and will also not provide a cookie for the
alternate web page in its request (because the alternate web page
is not being requested yet). The POD 215 intercepts the attempted
request and transmits the request to the MOD 225, 920, but the
transmitted request also includes no cookies for the same reason as
discussed above with respect to 915. The MOD 225 forwards the
request for the given web page to the target server associated with
the given web page, 925. At this point, similar to 718 of FIG. 7A,
it is possible that the MOD 225 is re-directed to one or more
intervening web pages before arriving at an alternate web page that
provides the actual web page content to be returned to the mobile
web browser (as opposed to yet another redirect), 928.
Alternatively, it is possible that the target server will redirect
the MOD 225 directly to the alternate web page that provides the
web page content (without any intervening redirects). Accordingly,
928 is shown with a dotted line in FIG. 9A to convey that the
intervening redirect operation is optional depending on whether any
intervening redirects are implemented. If intervening redirects are
used, it will be appreciated that the MOD 225 could potentially be
redirected to a different server altogether from the target server.
The target server (or a different server in the case where an
intervening redirect message is used to redirect the MOD 225 to a
different server) responds to the request from 925 (or to another
request from 928 that is prompted by a previous intervening
redirect, if any) with a 302 redirect to the alternate web page,
930, such as a mobile version of the given web page (e.g.,
www.edition.cnn.com). At this point, the MOD 225 does not know the
cookie for the alternate web page (e.g., see 905) even though the
mobile web browser on the client device has it cached. Thus, 935
through 965 substantially correspond to 725 through 755, such that
the target server provides the page content without knowledge of
the cookie of the client device from the previous time the
alternate web page was loaded at FIG. 7A.
[0090] While FIG. 9A describes a continuation of the process of
FIG. 7A whereby a supplemental request for a web page is shown, it
will be appreciated that other types of redirects can also occur
with respect to any type of web resource, and not merely a web
page. With this in mind, FIG. 9B illustrates a continuation of the
process of FIG. 7B whereby a supplemental request for a web
resource involving a proxy redirect procedure is shown in
accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0091] Generally, the process of FIG. 9B is similar to the process
of FIG. 9A, except that the FIG. 9A is a continuation of FIG. 7A
whereas FIG. 9B is a continuation of FIG. 7B, and the target web
resource to be retrieved in FIG. 9B does not necessarily need to be
a web page (although this is certainly possible). A specific
example is shown in FIG. 9B whereby the mobile web browser is
attempting to retrieve an image file at the URL of
www.cnn.com/image1.jpeg, whereby the mobile web browser ultimately
receives the image file at the URL of
www.edition.cnn.com/image1.mpeg based on the aforementioned
redirect procedure being simulated locally at the mobile web
browser by the POD 215. Accordingly, except for the distinction
between web pages and web resources discussed above, 900B through
965B of FIG. 9B substantially correspond to 900 through 965 of FIG.
9A, respectively, and as such will not be discussed in further
detail for the sake of brevity.
[0092] FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate a modified implementation of the
processes of FIGS. 7A and 9A that permit the MOD 225 to acquire the
cookie for the alternate web page during a redirect procedure for a
second (or later) loading of the alternate web page in accordance
with an embodiment of the invention.
[0093] Referring to FIG. 10, 1000 through 1030 correspond to 700
through 730 of FIG. 7A, and will thereby not be described further
for the sake of brevity. At 1035, the MOD 225 generates a "wrapped"
cookie for the given web page (e.g., Cookie[***cnn.com]). The
wrapped cookie generated at 1035 is not an actual cookie provided
from the web server hosting the given web page, but is rather a
fake cookie that will be used by the MOD 225 to be able to identify
the cookie for the alternate web page. Thus, the MOD 225 maintains
access to a function or algorithm that can be applied to the
wrapped cookies to unwrap (or reconstruct) the original cookies. In
an example, the wrapped cookie may be generated at the MOD 225 by
applying base64 to the cookie for the alternate web page, and the
wrapped cookie may later be unwrapped (see 1125 of FIG. 11) to
reconstruct the cookie for the alternate web page. In a further
example, the wrapped cookie may be generated at the MOD 225 by
applying a cryptographic function or algorithm (e.g., which may be
based upon base64 in one implementation) to the cookie for the
alternate web page, and the wrapped cookie may later be unwrapped
(see 1125 of FIG. 11) by applying a decryption function or
algorithm to reconstruct the cookie for the alternate web page
[0094] At 1040, the MOD 225 forwards the 200 OK message, the
requested content for the alternate web page, the cookie for the
alternate web page to the POD 215, and the wrapped cookie along
with a set of instructions (or a "Script") for mimicking the 302
redirect procedure for the alternate web page on the client device.
1040 is similar to 735 of FIG. 7A except that the transmission of
1040 further includes the wrapped cookie, which is configured to be
interpreted as the cookie for the given web page (i.e., the
initially requested web page or www.cnn.com, and not the alternate
web page or www.edition.cnn.com) by the mobile web browser.
[0095] Referring to FIG. 10, the POD 215 receives the transmission
of 1040 and implements the "spoofed" redirect procedure by
(optionally) simulating one or more intervening redirects, 1042
(e.g., as in 738 of FIG. 7A), and sending a 302 redirect message
for the alternate web page to the mobile web browser, 1045.
However, the 302 redirect message of 1045 further includes the
wrapped cookie as if the wrapped cookie were the cookie for the
given web page. Thus, the inclusion of the wrapped cookie within
the 302 redirect message of 1045 causes the 302 redirect message
received by the mobile web browser to be different from the 302
redirect message received at the MOD 225 from the web server at
1020.
[0096] The mobile web browser caches the wrapped cookie for the
given web page, 1050. The mobile web browser also responds to the
302 redirect message with a request for the alternate web page,
1055, the request for the alternate web page is intercepted by the
POD 215 and the POD 215 responds to the request with the 200 OK
message, the requested content for the alternate web page, and the
cookie for the alternate web page to the POD 215, 1060. At this
point, the mobile web browser loads the web page with the
understanding that it has been redirected to the alternate web
page, 1065.
[0097] Referring to FIG. 10, after 1065 of FIG. 10, assume that the
mobile web browser on the client device has a cookie for the
alternate web page (e.g., Cookie[edition.cnn.com] and also the
wrapped cookie (e.g., Cookie[***cnn.com]) which the mobile web
browser interprets as the cookie for the given web page, 1100. With
these assumptions, if the mobile web browser determines to request
the given web page again, 1110, the mobile browser attempts to
request the given web page at 1115 while providing the wrapped
cookie as the cookie for the given web page in its request. The POD
215 intercepts the attempted request and transmits the request to
the MOD 225 with the wrapped cookie, 1120. The MOD 225 detects the
wrapped cookie and uses the wrapped cookie to look-up the cookie
for the alternate web page, 1125 (e.g., by applying an algorithm or
function, such as a function based upon base64, to the wrapped
cookie to derive or reconstruct the cookie for the alternate
webpage). As noted above, the algorithm or function used to
reconstruct or "unwrap" the cookie may be a decryption function
that reverses encryption that was previously applied to the cookie
during the initial wrapping procedure.
[0098] The MOD 225 forwards the request for the given web page to
the target server associated with the given web page, 1130 (without
the wrapped cookie, because the wrapped cookie would not be
recognized by the target server). After (optionally) performing one
or more intervening redirects, 1133 (e.g., as in 1018 of FIG. 10),
the target server (or another server associated with a preceding
intervening redirect) responds to the request with a 302 redirect
to an alternate web page, 1135, such as a mobile version of the
given web page (e.g., www.edition.cnn.com). At this point, the MOD
225 knows the cookie for the alternate web page based on the
look-up operation from 1125. Accordingly, the MOD 225 requests the
alternate web page from the associated target server while
providing the cookie for the alternate web page (e.g.,
Cookie[edition.cnn.com]). While not shown explicitly in FIG. 11,
providing the cookie with the request of 1140 permits, among other
things, page content for the alternate web page to be loaded in a
selective manner for the client device. Accordingly, the target
server responds to the MOD's request for the alternate web page
with a 200 OK message and the requested content for the alternate
web page, 1145. At this point 1150 through 1170 of FIG. 11
substantially correspond to 945 through 965 of FIG. 9A (except that
inclusion of the cookie for the alternate web page is optional
because the target server was provided this cookie and thereby
knows that the requesting client device already has the cookie),
and as such will not be described further for the sake of
brevity.
[0099] FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate a modified implementation of the
processes of FIGS. 7B and 9B, respectively, that permit a proxy
server to acquire a cookie for an alternate or redirect web
resource (i.e., not necessarily a web page) during a redirect
procedure for a second (or later) loading of the alternate web
resource in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0100] Generally, the processes of FIGS. 12-13 is similar to the
process of FIGS. 10-11, except that, in FIGS. 12-13 relate to a
scenario where the target web resource to be retrieved does not
necessarily need to be a web page (although this is certainly
possible). A specific example is shown in FIGS. 12-13 whereby the
mobile web browser is attempting to retrieve an image file at the
URL of www.cnn.com/image1.jpeg, whereby the mobile web browser
ultimately receives the image file at the URL of
www.edition.cnn.com/image1.mpeg based on the aforementioned
redirect procedure being simulated locally at the mobile web
browser by the POD 215. In FIGS. 10-11, the cookies are for the web
pages www.cnn.com and www.edition.cnn.com, whereas the cookies in
FIGS. 12-13 are more specifically for the web resources of
www.cnn.com/image1.jpeg (e.g., ***cnn.com in FIGS. 12-13) and
www.edition.cnn.com/image1.jpeg. Accordingly, except for the
distinction between web pages and web resources discussed above,
1000 through 1065 of FIG. 10 substantially correspond to 1200
through 1265 of FIG. 12, respectively, and 1100 through 1170 of
FIG. 11 substantially correspond to 1300 through 1370 of FIG. 13,
respectively, and as such FIGS. 12 and 13 will not be discussed in
further detail for the sake of brevity.
[0101] Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information
and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different
technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions,
commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may
be referenced throughout the above description may be represented
by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or
particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination
thereof.
[0102] Further, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the
various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and
algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments
disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware,
computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate
this interchangeability of hardware and software, various
illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have
been described above generally in terms of their functionality.
Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software
depends upon the particular application and design constraints
imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the
described functionality in varying ways for each particular
application, but such implementation decisions should not be
interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present
invention.
[0103] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and
circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed
herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose
processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application
specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array
(FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or
transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination
thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A
general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the
alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,
controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also
be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a
combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of
microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a
DSP core, or any other such configuration.
[0104] The methods, sequences and/or algorithms described in
connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied
directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor,
or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM
memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory,
registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form
of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is
coupled to the processor such that the processor can read
information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In
the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the
processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an
ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In the
alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as
discrete components in a user terminal.
[0105] In one or more exemplary embodiments, the functions
described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or
any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions
may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or
code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media
includes both computer storage media and communication media
including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer
program from one place to another. A storage media may be any
available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of
example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can
comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage,
magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any
other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program
code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be
accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a
computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is
transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a
coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber
line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and
microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair,
DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and
microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc,
as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical
disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc
where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs
reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above
should also be included within the scope of computer-readable
media.
[0106] While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative
embodiments of the invention, it should be noted that various
changes and modifications could be made herein without departing
from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
The functions, steps and/or actions of the method claims in
accordance with the embodiments of the invention described herein
need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore,
although elements of the invention may be described or claimed in
the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the
singular is explicitly stated.
* * * * *
References